Nick Catone vs. Tomasz Drwal in the works for UFC Fight Night 22 in Texas

Not long after the New Jersey native told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that he wants to drop to welterweight, sources close to the promotion today said Catone (8-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) will stay in the 185-pound division to fight Tomasz Drwal (17-3-1 MMA, 3-2 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 22.

UFC Fight Night 22 is expected to take place Sept. 15 at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas, and air live on Spike TV, though the promotion has yet to officially announce the event.

The position of Catone vs. Drawl on the fight card is unknown at this time.

Catone, who recently re-united with the Renzo Gracie Fight Team, said he feels he may be giving up size in the middleweight division and was looking to welterweight because he’d rather be a big guy in a smaller class.

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge, but if I can make it, why not be one of the bigger guys instead of the average guys?” Catone said.

Catone was recently forced to withdraw from a fight with John Salter at UFC 113 due to a back injury (he was replaced by Canadian Jason MacDonald, who lost to Salter when he broke his leg during the fight). Prior to that, Catone bested Jesse Forbes on points at UFC Fight Night 20. The win reversed a two-fight skid to Mark Munoz and Tim Credeur at UFC 102 and UFC Fight Night 18, respectively.

Catone made his UFC debut in February 2009 with a submission win over Derek Downey at UFC Fight Night 17.

Meanwhile, Drwal’s most recent fight snapped a win streak and his leg, literally. The Poland native felt a pop-pop-pop in his knee when his opponent, Rousimar Palhares, cinched a heel hook after he fell on a high kick attempt at UFC 111.

Palhares drew some fire for appearing to hold the lock well beyond Drawl’s tapout, though he later apologized for his actions and received a 90-day suspension from the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board.

In the end, though, Drawl’s knee was merely sprained, and the fighter recently resumed training. Prior to the setback, the hard-slugging fighter won stoppage victories over Ivan Serati, Mike Ciesnolevicz and Drew McFedries. He made his octagon debut at UFC 75 and lost to Thiago Silva by second-round TKO.

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